In Alejandro G. Iñárritu's new film The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio plays frontiersman Hugh Glass as he, his son, and his hunting team raid Native American land in 1832. After DiCaprio is unexpectedly mauled by a bear, the crew buries him, murders his son, and abandons their bodies, continuing the journey unaware that DiCaprio escaped the grave to seek revenge. Calling The Revenant "intense" doesn't begin to do it justice; among other things, it's a meditation on the unholy perseverance of the human soul. Yet its soundtrack—co-created by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, German electronic musician Alva Noto, and multi-instrumentalist Bryce Dessner of The National—wisely opts to complement that savagery rather than illustrate it.
Iñárritu’s Birdman, the 2015 Academy Awards' Best Picture winner, stuttered its way through an unconventional drum score by Antonio Sánchez. Here, things get even more minimalist. The Revenant trades in sixteenth notes on hi-hats for minute-long fermatas, or held notes, on cellos. Throughout all 23 tracks, the score straddles the line between weariness and wonder, like someone constantly recalling the danger this stunning planet is capable of unleashing. Under conductor André de Ridder, Berlin-based orchestra s t a r g a z e plays expansively and with great care, its 25 players sporting a serious side compared to their work with artists like Deerhoof and Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry.
That organic swelling matches the dramatics beneath the film. Iñárritu fought to keep CGI out of The Revenant. He fought to use natural light on set. He fought to film so deep within nature that 40% of the day was spent traveling there. Each of the three contributors uphold this commitment to naturalism, even with Alva Noto's electronica. Sakamoto favors simplicity and clarity; as DiCaprio crosses frozen rivers and sleeps in animal carcasses, the brevity of Sakamoto's "Killing Hawk" illustrates the strength of Sakamoto's tight focus. On the minute-long "Arriving At Fort Kiowa", a single cello is joined by trotting string support, the group leaning forward in rhythm as a unified organism.
Noto brings three different dream sequences to the table—"First Dream", "Church Dream", and "Second Dream"—where electronic bass thuds in the background like a mattress falling to the floor of an empty room. It's eerie without offering obvious indicators as to why. In that, Noto's a pro. His use of electronics mimics the eldritch stares of a stalker, especially on "Goodbye to Hawk", creating the kind of anxiety heard in films like Drive and Under the Skin. Familiarity with the film's graphic scenes or the brutal landscapes of southern Argentina isn't required. Noto's written work acts as the terrified heartbeat fueling Iñárritu's violent winter all on its own.
Bryce Dessner is the least involved of the three songwriters, but when he contributes, he creates a world overwhelmingly rich with life – the very thing DiCaprio's character clings to. The most emotional number on the album, "Imagining Buffalo", introduces one violinist to another and another, stitching them together so they form a single note stretching into the infinite and spilling joy over into illusory insanity. "Looking For Glass" rides a similar crescendo. When all three men join forces again, songs like "Cat and Mouse" use handclaps and violin tremors to communicate the indefatigability of cheating death. Sometimes, the soundtrack traces the film’s woes without coloring them in, but it’s still successful in creating the sound of mental exhaustion choosing life over death, no matter how torturous and unforgiving it — and we — may be.
